Thursday, August 25, 2011

On Thursday I got up early, well, earlier I suppose!
And we went to Baylys Beach, where we hired a 2-seater quad bike for an hour. Unfortunately you had to have you drivers license to ride them yourself, and Dad had signed something to say that he would be on it the whole time, so first he took as all for a ride on the back, then he let some of us older ones dsit on the front and have a go at 'driving' it, which is definately more fun! Although someone seriously needs to tell my Dad that going fast is half the fun!

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Yeah, this is me

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Maria enjoys the beach

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Mum and Dad. Isn't the beach beautiful?

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An up-close view of the bike, with Monique (then 9) and Dad on it

Look at all the tacks we made!

I think this was definately better at the time, but
I think the video is still cool!
Caution: If you are the owner of this vehicle,
you might not want to see this! =D

As it was already late afternoon, we just went back to the unit for dinner, and I managed to motivate myself to do some of the review I was up to in Writing & Grammar, yes, I actually took school work with me! lol
Later on we went for a walk, and ended up watching a pipe band finish their practice - probably in preperation for Anzac Day.

Friday, August 12, 2011

After another late morning, we went to the Dargaville info centre, collected some brochures, then drove out to the Kai Iwi Lakes.
Mum and Dad looked around the campground, while the others got soaked in the lake, and me? Well, I sat in the car txting, playing games........and finishing the packet of roasted salted peanuts!(yum!)

After going back to the unit to finish cleaning sand off children, etc., we drove back into Dargaville to look for a nice restaurant, eventually deciding on the Shiraz and Indian restaurant.

Aren't the lights so cool?

The dinner was nice, despite not being as hot as I like (everything was mild) and the desert...well I had chocolate cake, with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Now, I tell you, it is the weirdest sensation eating chocolate cake and having your mouth burn! Seriously, my entire mouth felt like it was on fire!

Later on we did some washing at $4 per load in the machine and driers - Wow the owners of the camp must be rich!
and I did a bit on my cross stitch before having a[nother] late night.

I didn't sleep very well Monday night - for various reasons, one of which was that Diana was just about lying on top of me... So after getting up late we headed down to the main street in Dargaville, and went for a walk, and through some of the shops. Despite Danielle's new umbrella being clear plastic with purple spots, she was still nicknamed "Mary Poppins." I picked up a USB Socket charger (so I can charge my Mp3 player in the car), Mum got teaspoons because they don't have any here at the camp. And Mum went to the Hospice and looked at cheap clothing - $1 items, then Dad came in and looked at two fax machines because we'd been having trouble with the one at work, tried one of them (which turned out to be missing an ink cartridge), and bought the other one - a few days later he went back to buy the first one!

We walked down to Westpac Dargaville, as Mum had some banking to do. Because it was a new store - it had opened the day before - they had a REALLY nice chocolate cake that we all had a piece of, and they were giving out easter eggs and small bags of Maltesers.
While we were walking back to the van, Dad decided he should past the fax machine down to Uncle Pete who was running the business while we were away. As a side note, Dad posted it around 5pm - possibly after - and it arrived at work before lunch the next day!

After another trip to Woolworths we went back to our accommodation where Mum made rice, mixed veggies and bacon for dinner.
We then finished the day with a few games of "Uno," fudge and marshmallow eggs.

On the freezing cold day of Monday, April 18th, we packed bags and suitcases of clothing, food, toys, games...and so on; Dad swapped our 8-seater for the Aikens' 10-seater (Thanks for loaning it to us!); and, yes, I spent a bit (well, maybe a BIG bit I suppose!) of time on the computer, emailing/chatting to my friends letting them know we were going away. Finally (at about 5:30!) we left for Dargaville, Northland.

We soon discovered that with and above-average sized family and a large van, we drew quite a bit of attention! (The van we borrowed at Christmas time had tinted windows, but because this one doesn't, everyone could see us). So anyway, we had fun laughing at, and waving to all the people who looked at us!! *grin* Not quite enough fun, though, it would seem, because near the beginning of the drive we had a few "Are we nearly there yet?"'s!

Because we arrived in Dargaville fairly late, and it is a very small town, no takeaway shops were open, so, after finding our Holiday Park we went to Woolworths (thankfully that was still open!) and bought bread rolls and cooked chicken for dinner, and a chocolate cake for supper, which we ate on returning to the Holiday Park. Side note - The GPS wasn't very happy that we were driving away from our programmed destination - it kept re-mapping to get us back to the Holiday Park; if you ever hear my siblings say "Turn right, after 100 metres, turn right" that's what they're referring to!

We had tried to get into a cabin, but our family is now too large to fit(!), so we were put in a backpacker unit which consists of

lounge and

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dining

﻿﻿three bedrooms;

one with a double bed - Mum and Dad's room,

another had a single and bunk set - Jarrod, Danielle and Bryce

and last but not least - a bunk set comprised of double on bottom, single on top - Monique, Diana and me

Yes Uncle Pete, now I know what it's like sleeping, or ah, not sleeping, with Diana...!

My Mum is expecting again..due 12th March.
This means various things for my siblings, eg. Jarrod (12) says we need a new van (we currently have an 8-seater), for Diana, "Yay, that means we can go to the Aikens' again! (the day Mum had Maria my siblings went to the Aikens' - a homeschool family we know - so Mum could sleep)...and for me, more screaming when I want to sleep...more baby puke..ok I suppose its not all bad but hey..oh and it means I'm expected to make way more meals, look after children..etc..which is ok except I have to fit school work in sometime! =)

oops sorry everyone! I just realised I havn't told you I passed my learners' (drivers license) on the 4th of July.. anyway I'm having fun driving, I currently have about 14 hours logged on practice. =D